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Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G LTE smartphones have been sprung from U.S. Customs. Sprint announced it will immediately begin shipping HTC EVO 4G LTE pre-orders to customers who placed their orders through the Sprint website. Sprint announced in a forum post this week that the phones should be in these customers’ hands on or around May 24th.

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According to Sprint, the EVO 4G LTE was originally slated to be released on May 18, but was delayed in U.S. customs due to a “review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order.”

The exclusion order resulted from a court ruling handed down last year. HTC was accused of violating 10 patents held by Apple. The judge ruled in favor of Apple in the case, and required HTC to make changes to the software in its EVO 4G LTE and HTC One X devices that were headed to the U.S. (HTC’s violation specifically involved the process of tapping a phone number in an email to launch the phone’s dialer to call a number.)

The exclusion order went into effect on April 19. U.S. Customs finally pulled both the HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE for inspection last week. HTC had acknowledged the review, and issued a statement reading in part, “We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with customs to secure approval.” Approval apparently has been granted, at least for the EVO 4G LTE device. No word on the status of the HTC One X, but we’ll keep you posted.

Customers will be sent a shipping confirmation email with a tracking number as soon as their devices ship. Check the status of pre-orders on Sprint’s website.

HTC and Sprint aren’t saying when EVO 4G LTE devices will be available in retail stores. Those who snapped up pre-order deals from Amazon or Best Buy will most likely have to wait a few extra days before their handsets are delivered, too.

Apple has taken over Google’s number one spot as the world’s most valuable brand. According to a study carried out by global brands agency Millward Brown, Apple topped the list of the 100 most valuable brands with an astounding 84% increase in value in just the last year.

Millward Brown calculates that the Apple brand has increased in value by 859% since 2006 and now stands at $153.3 billion. Apple's portfolio of coveted consumer goods rocketed it past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable technology company in 2010.

For all you fellow you gamers have been patiently awaiting Ubisoft’s release of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Commander since it was announced back in April. hold on to your game/console controller … a ready to play Ghost Recon Commander is now available on Facebook.

Unlike its console and PC counterpart game, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (which is also launching this week), Ghost Recon Commander is not a 3D first person shooter but a 2D version of the series.

Watch the following short debut trailer :

Ghost Recon Commander has an overhead viewpoint with social elements like players being given the option to team up with their Facebook friends to form alliances and complete missions. The Facebook game is also integrated with the console game, allowing players to unlock characters, and earn points and currency that can be used in both games.

The Ghost Recon Commander screen features ten “re-playable missions, three difficulty levels and lots of weapons to for carrying out missions. Other features and weapons become available as you progress in the game. Unlocks and other features that are provided in the Facebook environment can be used to unlock features within console and PC versions.

Games aren’t new territory for Facebook. The site is filled with social and casual games like AngryBirds and FarmVille. While Facebook followers have made these games incredibly popular, there haven’t been any titles to attract the hardcore gaming crowd. With the release of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Commander, Ubisoft wants to change that.

According to a report released by Nielsen, this is the first time that more than half of all mobile customers in the U.S. own a smartphone. That's up a whopping 38% from a year ago.

With Android and iOS accounting for more than 80% of the U.S. market, smartphones are changing the way people use their handsets. Smartphone users are spending 39 minutes per day using their apps, up 10% from a year ago. The number of apps downloaded to Apple iPhone and Google Android devices grew 28% over the past year to an average of 41 apps per phone.

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A Google study also released Wednesday found that 26% of U.S. smartphone owners would rather give up their computer than their smartphone -- a sign that smartphones are truly becoming mini-PCs.

Despite the increase of apps, smartphone owners spend roughly the same amount of time using them each day: 37 minutes in 2011, compared to 39 minute in 2012.

Facebook, YouTube, Android market (now Google Play Store), Google Search and Gmail remain the top five most-used apps, according to Nielsen. That isn't particularly surprising, since all of those apps except for Facebook are pre-loaded onto most Android devices.

According to a recent blog post from Motorola, the company will limit ICS updates to just the handsets it believes will benefit from the change. For example, the Droid 3, Droid Pro and Milestone 3 will remain on Android 2.3 (a.k.a. Gingerbread), while some phones will keep versions of Android as far back as Android 1.5 and 2.1.

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Here is the explanation in Motorola’s words: “You may be wondering why all devices aren’t being upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here’s the deal. We work very closely with Google and cell phone carriers for every software update. And, obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device.”

To date, the only device that has received its update to Android 4.0 is the WiFi-only XOOM (and only the US and Canadian versions). All other devices remain in one of their four stages: development, test in-house, carrier test and release. (A beta field test may also be inserted between stages 3 and 4.)

Motorola has probably been the most candid and thorough device manufacturer when it comes to Android upgrade plans. Motorola has been good about maintaining their device update page found in their forums. Here is a summary of their ICS roll-out plans as of this month:

How much the Google buyout of Motorola will affect the release schedule is anyone’s guess. Google is very good at raising the bar, so we hope they lay some Google ambition on Motorola’s organization.

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For all the sales records being set by some smartphone manufacturers, total worldwide sales dropped by 2% since the same time period last year. Only 419.1 million units sold in the Q1 2012 versus 427.8 million in Q1 2011. This is the first time since the second quarter of 2009 that the market has shown a decline.

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According to Gartner Inc., lack of new product launches and users delaying their upgrades in Asia/Pacific countries are the top reasons for the drop. The first quarter is usually the strongest quarter for Asia due to its Chinese New Year. There should be some recovery coming as users in Asia look for better smartphone deals to arrive later in the year.

Android accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales, with a 56.1% market share in the first quarter of 2012. Apple’s iOS has second place with an increase from 16.9% in 2011 to 22.9%.

Samsung became the world’s top mobile handset vendor during the quarter. It took the top spot from Nokia which had been No. 1 since 1998. Samsung’s mobile phone sales reached 86.6 million units, a 25.9% increase from last year. Samsung took back the world’s No. 1 smartphone position from Apple, selling 38 million smartphones worldwide. Samsung’s Android-based smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2012 represented more than 40 percent of Android-based smartphone sales worldwide; no other vendors achieved more than a 10 percent share of the market.

After years of eating away at Microsoft’s Internet Explorer market share, Google Chrome took what looks to be a sustainable lead as the most popular Web browser in the world. According to the latest figures from StatCounter, Chrome has a 32.76% of the market versus 31.94% for Internet Explorer and surpasses Internet Explorer in the global numbers for the first time.

More and more cell phone and tablet users are turning the performance rich chrome as their browser of choice on their devices.

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Just a year ago, Internet Explorer was leading the Web browser market share with 43%, followed by Mozilla Firefox with 29%. Chrome came in a distant third with 19%. Twelve months later, IE is down 12% while Chrome gained 13% (due to both IE and Firefox losses). Firefox also lost about 4% of its users and now has just over 25% market share.

"Whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable. At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE," added Aodhan Cullen, commenting on the weekend surges in Chrome usage.

Android 4.0 was first seen on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus six months ago. Still, millions of Android device owners are waiting for their Ice Cream Sandwich. Thanks to the folks at Engaget, we have a list of the official downloads for the most popular legacy devices that have ICS, as well as those that the manufacturers have promised updates for in the future.

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Samsung has done the best job so far at adding Ice Cream Sandwich to many of their unlocked devices -- the Samsung Galaxy S 2 in particular. Samsung’s list shows a lot more on their way, but updates to branded devices seem to stall in carrier-specific testing. Galaxy Tab users outside of Canada are still waiting for ICS.

HTC offers two different versions of Sense on ICS: Sense 4 for phones natively supporting ICS, and another for legacy devices. If you own one of the devices listed below, you'll have Sense 3.6, the "lighter" iteration that stays true to the UI's older look.

Motorola has a forum page for progress on each device. A large number of phones and tablets not on this list are still in "evaluation and planning" stages. By that, Motorola means they are under consideration for receiving ICS, but not all of them will see it. The devices below will get an upgrade.

LG is taking its time getting ICS to its legacy devices. The company has plans for most of its latest handsets, but only a few phones will get ICS before the end of June. The rest will have to wait until the third quarter.

It looks like Apple’s next iPhone will have a 4-inch display. The Wall Street Journal has confirmed a number of earlier reports about the new iPhone’s screen size, and as further confirmation that this is the final word, the paper also reported that the panel orders for the 4-inch screen have been placed with Apple’s suppliers- LG Display, Sharp and Japan Display.

Rumors on the new Apple’s screen size have been bouncing back and forth for awhile. One minute we hear a 3.5-inch prediction and the next it’s back to the 4.0-inch guess. It looks like the smart money was on a 4-inch screen. Remaining at the 3.5-inch size would have kept the iPhone essentially at the same screen dimensions as the iPhone 4’s that launched way back in 2010.

Apple's decision to go with the larger screen is, in part, a competitive response to Samsung’s next Galaxy smartphone model that has a 4.8-inch touch-screen. Samsung became the world's largest cell phone maker this year, and sold 45 million smartphones in the first quarter. Sales of the Galaxy phones outstripped the iPhone.

Some would say that it’s about time Apple increased the iPhone’s screen size. People want larger screens. We are getting used to using smartphones for things we once did on laptops - watch videos, create documents, and read maps. Other smartphone manufacturers have been moving towards bigger displays for quite some time.

According to Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee, “a shakeup in the design of a larger-screen iPhone could go a long way in boosting its ‘wow’ factor, convincing fans to trade in their old iPhones for new ones. Not only do users pay for features, but they also pay for aesthetics and design. That's as important, or more important, than features. People love the current design -- but it's 18 months old."

Google jumped its final hurdle in its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility with China approving the deal. The next step may involve layoffs for Motorola Mobility employees in the near future. According to Tech Crunch, layoffs could be on the list of things to do after the deal closes.

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Motorola went through one restructuring after the announcement of the Google acquisition last year. When the announcement went public, Motorola had 19,000 employees. Later that year about 800 employees were laid off. Neither Google nor Motorola have confirmed the possibility of upcoming layoffs.

"I'm excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed," said Larry Page, Google CEO. "Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola's StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. As the company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google."

While the news of any layoffs under any circumstances is bad news, maybe Google can turn the phone- maker around. Motorola has been in trouble for awhile now. Earlier this month, the company reported a fifth straight quarter of losses including a net loss of $86 million for the first quarter of 2012. In previous consecutive quarters, Motorola reported net losses in the low $80 million area. Motorola hasn’t been able to figure out how to compete with other Android device manufacturers like Samsung and HTC.

Google also announced today that Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and Google executive Dennis Woodside will take over.